SMU has received a S$5 million contribution from alumni Jeff Tung and Benjamin Twoon, both graduates of the Lee Kong Chian School of Business in 2013, in what the University describes as its largest alumni gift to date.
The contribution will expand opportunities for student founders through funding, mentorship, and curriculum support, with a particular focus on helping ventures survive the difficult period between concept and commercial viability.
For SMU, the announcement is not simply about philanthropy. It reflects a broader ambition to strengthen the University’s role in Singapore’s startup landscape by building a more structured route for students to test, launch and sustain businesses while still in school.
The gift will enhance the existing Passion, Adventure, Kickstart (PAK) Entrepreneurship Challenge and establish a new Design Your Startup Work-Study Elective (WSE), an academic pathway that allows students to earn credit while building their ventures.
Together, the initiatives seek to address a persistent problem in student entrepreneurship: promising ideas often lose momentum long before they develop into commercially viable concepts for companies.
Empowerment beyond academia
The PAK Entrepreneurship Challenge has been serving as a platform for student ventures with growth potential. The enhanced model will serve as a direct launchpad for early-stage startups and offer support at a point where many founders encounter early obstacles such as limited capital, uncertain market traction and competing academic demands.
The new Work-Study Elective also aims to reduce the friction that many student entrepreneurs face in balancing academic commitments with building a startup by making venture creation a credit bearing option.
The approach signals a shift in how entrepreneurship is positioned within the University. Rather than treating startup-building as a separate activity pursued outside formal education, SMU is integrating it into the academic experience itself.
With this latest commitment, Jeff Tung, and Benjamin Twoon’s cumulative contributions to SMU now stand at S$7 million.
SMU President Lily Kong explained: “Jeff and Benjamin are entrepreneurs whose journeys were profoundly shaped during their time at SMU. Having benefitted from mentorship and support themselves, they are now choosing to open doors for others who share similar aspirations.
“In doing so, they are nurturing a virtuous cycle — one in which alumni success creates opportunities for students, and today’s beneficiaries become tomorrow’s builders and benefactors.”
From alumni to institutional builders
For the benefactors, the initiative carries both personal meaning and broader economic intent. They point to a business environment that increasingly rewards adaptability, speed and original thinking, qualities they believe universities must cultivate deliberately rather than incidentally.
Jeff Tung said: “Our society today stands to benefit from entrepreneurs who can operate beyond conventional frameworks and devise groundbreaking ideas. Through this gift, we hope to cultivate the next generation of unicorn startups that will redefine the industry and propel society forward.”
Benjamin Twoon framed their contribution against a backdrop of rapid global change and intensifying competition for innovation talent.
“With the rapidly shifting trends across the globe, the entrepreneurial spirit is needed now more than ever to drive innovation and solutions. On top of providing a pathway for aspiring founders to move beyond ideas and towards building impactful businesses, we believe that SMU has the capability to nurture globally competitive changemakers who will shape society for the better.”
This reflects a wider trend emerging across higher education institutions globally: alumni are increasingly directing contributions towards programmes tied to innovation, employability, and enterprise creation, rather than traditional infrastructure alone.
A wider push for Singapore’s startup ecosystem
The timing of the initiative also aligns with Singapore’s continued efforts to strengthen its position as a regional innovation hub. Policymakers, universities, and investors have placed growing emphasis on nurturing founders earlier, particularly as competition for venture capital and technological leadership intensifies across Asia.
SMU’s latest initiatives aim to help contribute to a more robust and sustainable startup ecosystem in Singapore – one that connects funding, mentorship and academic recognition into a more continuous support system that can endure even beyond graduation.
The challenge, as with any startup ecosystem, lies in sustainability. Initial funding alone rarely guarantees success; founders require time, guidance, networks, and institutional backing capable of carrying an idea through uncertainty and repeated setbacks.
This is where alumni involvement may prove especially influential. Having navigated those pressures themselves, Jeff Tung and Benjamin Twoon are also contributing a model of continuity with one generation of entrepreneurs investing in the next at SMU.
See also: Alumni Gift to SMU Fuels Next Generation of Entrepreneurs | SMU Newsroom
